TEXAS: LYNDON B. JOHNSON RANCH

 Tuesday, March 23, 2021

We began the next day with a three-hour drive to the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, which is due west of Austin.

I am always on the look-out for good murals, and I made Bob stop for this one in Eden. Is that Eve? (Note: We actually did pass the Garden of Eden, but unfortunately it was not on Bob's agenda.)

We visited the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin in 2012 (although for some reason I never got around to writing about it here). On this trip, nine years later, we decided to visit the ranch where LBJ was born, lived a good part of his life, and was buried.

The LBJ Ranch is in Stonewall (yes, named after Confederate General Stonewall Jackson who died as a result of friendly fire in 1863). After paying our fees at the Visitors Center, we walked out to a living history farm based on a 1918 German farm. (Apparently there were lots of German settlers in this area. In fact, 15 miles away is a town named Fredericksburg that is full of German shops.) The farm was one of the better living history places we have visited. The volunteers work the farm and literally eat the fruits of their own labors.

We walked through quite a nice home . . .  

. . . that supposedly belonged to this friendly couple:

I wish I knew the story of this beautiful framed wreath hanging on the wall.

VIRGINIA: MOUNT VERNON

George Washington was the son of wealthy planters in Virginia, but his father died when George was only eleven, and as a result the family experienced some financial hardship (which meant George couldn't go to England for his education). However, his father had owned some property he had named "Mount Vernon," and he deeded it to his oldest living son Lawrence (by his first wife--George was the oldest son born to his second wife). When Lawrence died of tuberculosis in 1752, 20-year-old George moved to the estate to help Lawrence's widow manage the place. When she died a few years later, George inherited it. Not long after that, he married Martha Custis, a wealthy widow one year older than he, in 1759.

We didn't waste any time waiting to get to know George, Martha, and their two grandchildren:

After all, they like visitors:

Mt. Vernon consists of 500 acres of prime real estate on the banks of the Potomac River.

The house was built in stages by George himself between 1758 and 1778 in the same spot where the previous home had been since 1735. I'm sure Martha must have bankrolled some of the expenses.

I always thought Mount Vernon was painted white.

We got in a LONG line behind about 1.5 million children on school field trips. Luckily, a colonist had been resurrected so that he could lecture the young 'uns on their behavior (which was, actually, amazingly good):

HYDE PARK. NEW YORK: ROOSEVELT'S HOME

About 90 miles due north of New York City, just north of Poughkeepsie and on the Hudson River, lies Hyde Park, the hometown of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

With about 22,000 residents, Hyde Park is relatively small compared to some of its famous neighbors, but it's a pretty upscale place, a fitting hometown for one of America's royal families--the Roosevelts.

And there they are, Eleanor and Franklin, waiting to entertain any visitors in their outdoor reception area:

The statue was adapted from a picture taken of the couple in 1933 right here in Hyde Park.

ABILENE, KANSAS: DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY, MUSEUM, BOYHOOD HOME, AND MAUSOLEUM

After driving through Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska, we headed for our fourth and last state: Kansas. During the next few days, our plan was to visit Abilene, Wamego, Topeka, Lawrence, and Kansas City (Kansas side):

(Wamego? What's in Wamego? You'll have to wait and see.)

The first leg, from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Abilene, Kansas, was 165 miles of corn fields. Some people would call this a soothing drive; others might say it's mind-blowingly boring. By this point in the trip, I'd probably go with the latter except for the fact that we had a good audiobook going, so the drive was great.

Our first Kansas stop was the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, and Boyhood Home in Abilene. Like the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library site we visited earlier in the trip, this is a sprawling park that obviously includes much more than just the museum. Those Midwesterners like their space.

1. EISENHOWER'S CHILDHOOD HOME
Eisenhower's family moved to Abilene from Texas in 1892 when Ike was two years old, and to this house in Abilene in 1898. Ike lived here with his five brothers and his parents until he left for West Point in 1911 at age 20. Ike's parents lived here until they died in 1942 and 1946.